WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 58 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 34.5 C 4.9 C Friday, April 24, 2020 | 12-01-2077 Nepalgunj Jiri How Oli aimed ordinance at splitting parties but instead led to their merger Two ordinances introduced on Monday culminated in a political drama that saw allegations of kidnapping and the merger of two Madhesi parties long at odds. TIKA R PRADHAN & ANIL GIRI KATHMANDU, APRIL 23 The introduction of two controversial ordinances on Monday by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli set into motion a chain of events that eventually culminated in the alleged “kidnapping” of a political leader and the long-awaited merger of two Madhesi parties. Late Wednesday night, the Samajbadi Party Nepal and the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, the third and fourth largest parties in the feder- al parliament, finally agreed to merge in order to “deal a blow to Oli’s ill-in- POST PHOTO: BEEJU MAHARJAN tended move of splitting the Samajbadi A farmer dumps flowers at Ramkot in the Capital’s Nagarjun Municipality as the lockdown due to coronavirus puts florists out of business. Party,” they said. POST PHOTO: KABIN ADHIKARI “We foiled Oli’s plan to split the Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janata Party Samajbadi Party by deciding to merge applied to the Election Commission on with them,” Rajendra Mahato, a lead- Thursday to register a unified party. er in the six-member Janata Party praesidium, told the Post. However, Samajbadi Party coordi- Nepalis in London face xenophobia amid Covid fears Hours before the merger, Samajbadi nator and former prime minister Party Vice-chair Renu Yadav had Baburam Bhattarai was quick to attempted to split the party with the react, calling Surendra Yadav’s depar- Last week, two cars belonging to former British Gurkhas were set on fire in what is believed to be racially motivated attacks. support of six others of the party’s ture from Janakpur a “kidnapping”. lawmakers, a move that was only pos- The party’s publicity department dep- ELISHA SHRESTHA IN KATHMANDU & But that wasn’t to be the only attack that this has to do with the Covid-19 sible because of one of Oli’s Monday uty chief Bishwadeep Pandey too NABIN POKHREL IN LONDON on the Gurkha community that night. pandemic, which has sparked racism ordinances that allowed a party split alleged that ruling party leader APRIL 23 Barely an hour after Limbu’s parents’ and anti-Asian xenophobia across the to occur with just 40 percent support Mahesh Basnet and former Nepal car was set afire, another car belong- world. from either the party’s lawmakers or Police chief Sarbendra Khanal had On Wednesday, April 15, Milan Limbu ing to Basanta Maden, also a former Last month, when Roshan Gurung its central committee. Earlier, the “kidnapped” Surendra Yadav from was playing video games in his room British Gurkha and Limbu’s neigh- was walking on the street of Bristol, a requirement was 40 percent support Janakpur. when he heard a loud explosion. At bour, was burned. man directed an angry rant at him from both lawmakers and the central Basnet, however, denied any such first, he thought it was the sound of Ratna Limbu, Milan’s uncle, from his car. committee. charges. fireworks. But it was 11 pm in the oth- believes that the arson attacks were “It was the first time that I faced “If we had not decided to merge The former minister told the Post erwise quiet neighbourhood of racially motivated. racism. I get chills even remembering yesterday, Renu Yadav would have that he had been called for a discus- Maidstone, an English town south- “We have been deeply saddened the incident. The man yelled at me, split the party with at least six other sion by some Samajbadi Party law- east of London. Limbu looked out the and, at the same time, badly shaken up saying at what price I was selling bats lawmakers today,” said Ang Kaji makers who wanted to desert the window to find his parents’ car on fire. by these incidents,” he said. “I am and then he sarcastically congratulat- Sherpa, a central committee member party. According to insiders in the The police and fire department afraid that my family might also be ed me for spreading Covid-19,” said of the Samajbadi Party. ruling Nepal Communist Party, Oli were called, and the conclusion was PHOTO COURTESY: KENT ONLINE the target of a hate crime.” Gurung. Renu Yadav, along with five other had deployed some leaders “to hold arson--the car had deliberately been The car after the arson attack in Maidstone. The arson attacks on Limbu and On March 18, Haushala Thapa lawmakers, had reportedly already talks” with Samajbadi Party leaders. set on fire. For Limbu, the son of Ram Maden are by no means isolated inci- Zimba reported being the target of a gathered in Kathmandu. One lawmak- One Samajbadi Party leader who Kumar Limbu, a former British dents. In recent days, physical and comment by a passerby who accused er, Surendra Yadav, was in Janakpur spoke on condition of anonymity Gurkha, it was an attack that he’d as a Gurkha enclave in England. verbal attacks against the Nepali com- her of having brought the “virus” to and was brought to Kathmandu by admitted that the Oli camp had put out never experienced before in “It was an attack on my family, on munity in England are becoming England. road on Oli’s instructions, according feelers to some disgruntled leaders. Maidstone, a small town that is known our house,” said Limbu. much more common. Many believe >> Continued on page 5 to media reports. >> Continued on page 5 Nepal stands to lose Rs 145 billion in remittance this year Projected drop due to the global economic slowdown triggered by coronavirus as well as the fall in oil prices, World Bank says. SANGAM PRASAIN & coronavirus outbreak as PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA well as the fall in oil prices. KATHMANDU, APRIL 23 “The economic slow- down is likely to directly Remittance to Nepal is affect remittance outflows expected to drop by a whop- from the United States, ping 14 percent this year, the United Kingdom, and signalling an economic dis- EU countries to South Asia. tress stemming from the Falling oil prices will Covid-19 pandemic, said a affect remittance outflows World Bank report released from GCC [Gulf on Wednesday. Cooperation Council] coun- This drop in remittance tries and Malaysia,” the roughly translates to a loss report said. of Rs145 billion, based on Since March 12, no the current exchange rate Nepali has gone abroad to of $1=Rs120. work. The entire foreign Nepali migrant workers employment business has sent home $8.64 billion in been halted indefinitely for 2019, making the country the first time in over two one of the biggest benefi- decades. ciaries of remittance in the “The projection by the world. World Bank regarding the Remittances to the entire decline in remittances to South Asian region are Nepal is in line with our expected to decline by 22 own projection,” said percent to $109 billion, the Gunakar Bhatta, spokes- report says, driven largely person for Nepal Rastra by the global economic Bank. slowdown triggered by the >> Continued on page 5 C M Y K FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2020 | 02 MEDLEY Inside the Post Quote of the day Health Ministry to recommend easing of lockdown restrictions in areas National outside coronavirus hotspots, Page 3 The Ministry of Health and Population is likely to recommend that the Covid-19 high-level committee and the Crisis Management Center ease lockdown restrictions in areas outside infection hotspots. “We all know the ongoing lockdown cannot be continued in the same form, but we must Opinion ensure that risk is minimised before This pandemic will further increase inequality. Billions of jobs lost will be the major factor that will create further inequality even in the developed countries. restrictions are lifted.” Developing and least developed countries will be further affected by the economic downturn. Dr Bhagwan Koirala, chairman of Nepal Medical Council, on Money easing the lockdown restrictions. Boeing plans to reduce the workforce in its civil aviation unit by 10 percent to cut costs as the coronavirus causes a crisis for airlines, two sources familiar with the matter told AFP. The job cuts could affect up to 7,000 workers. Most read online World The coronavirus pandemic is cutting off the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims from How one Pokhara resident led a smear campaign to get an their cherished Ramadan traditions as health officials battle to ward off new infections during Islam’s holiest month, haunted by multiple outbreaks traced to American kicked out of the country religious gatherings around the world. On December 30, Tandav News, a Pokhara-based online portal, published a story alleging that an American citizen on a business visa was involved in raising “illegal donations” in Pokhara. The portal followed up with another report on Culture & Arts January 1, detailing how the American was “making a profit in the name of ‘Extraction’ is a familiar kind of kinetic action movie featuring lengthy takes and social work”. Then, another story on January 6 regarding their “investigation violent choreography, but it benefits greatly from the atmosphere of an exotic, strategy”. lesser-seen and overwhelming locale. With three new cases, Nepal’s Covid-19 tally reaches 45 Three new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said. This takes the country’s Covid-19 tally to 45.